Identifying tag



Dec. 1, 1925.

H. B. JONES IDENTIFQING TAG Filed Jan. 2. 1925 F 2- on 26 x M J17 BR ANT INA P.QP.- 16 RED a 9/ PINK B AMPLIFIER "Ema i4 DETECTOR 21 22/ 1d Patented Dec. 1, 1925.

UNITED STATES HO JVARD B. JONES, OF EVANSTOII, ILLINOIS.

IDENTIFYING TAG.

Application filed January 2, 1925.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HowAiu) B. J ONES, a citizen of the United States, residing in Evanston, Cook County, Illinois, have in vented certain new and useful Improve ments in Identifying Tags, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the appended drawings, forming a part thereof. v

These improvements relate broadly to information-bearing cards adapted to be secured to an article and which are commonly known as tags. They relate more particularly to strips or cards of thin and flexible sheet material for identifying such relatively long and slender articles as wire, insulated electrical conductors, cord, small copper tubing, etc.

The Clllifif object of the invention is to provide an identifying tag for articles of the kind mentioned which is easily applied, which clearly displays the information thereon, which maintains itself automatically in position on the article identified, and which is cheap in manufacture. The tag is peculiarly advantageous in connection with electrical instruments, where, owing to the presence of a considerable number of wires in a small area, the use of a substantially small tag which lies lengthwise with the wire and is firmly secured to it and is therefore substantially unitary with the wire as distinguished from a pendant or dangling tag, is particularly desirable. One object of the improvement is to provide a series of such tags in a single card or unit divided for ready separability into as many individual tags as the particular electrical instrument or system has wires to be identified, whereby the card or combined unit becomes a guide and check to the person in stalling the instrument, whereby he can see substantially at a glance that he has all of the tags desired, whereby the manufacture of the tags for a given kind of work is simplified and cheap'ened, including the 'avoid ance of the sorting, assembling and counting operations, and whereby the several tags are preserved against individual loss more likely to occur with a substantially small unit than with a relatively large one.

Still other objects and advantages will appear hereinafter.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a face view of a piece-of thin and flexible sheet material Serial No. 146.

embodying the improvements; Fig. 2 shows the bottom tag of Fig. 1 detached; Fig. 3 shows the device of Fig. 2 with a conductor wire normally threaded through it to hold it on the wire; and Fig. a shows the members of Fig. 3 turned ninety degrees.

I make my improved tags of such strong and fiexi le material as what is known in the market as sheet fiber, and, for electrical instrument work, of a thickness about equal to that of three-ply Bristol board. There is no highly critical. requirement in respect to thickness or material, and such material as Bristol board would serve, although the fiber has better-lasting qualities. Sheet 7 metal, such as brass or tin plate, would be serviceable in some instances, as uponthe end portions of coils of wire, and the information data could be stamped thereon.

Fig. 1 shows a plurality of individual tags 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 in a single card separated by serrations 17, l8, 19, 20, 21 and 22. The cardboard or fiber sections are readily broken apart by merely folding the card at the serrations.

Each section or tag 10 to 16 is provided with a pair of holes or perforations 28 and 2a in one end portion of the relatively long and narrow strip, and with another hole or perforation 25 in the other end portion of the strip, leaving a clear space of materially large extent on the face of the tag between the holes 24: and 25, which space is designed to accommodate data for identifying the particular wire or similar article.

The tags illustrated contain the identify-- ing data for the principal circuit wires of a radio receiving set, and each indicates a particular wire which the user desires to refor to from time to time, as .when making the original installation or after disconnecting wires for various purpose The information shown by the words black, brown, red,'etc. is in furtherance of a systemv of identification originated by me and at the present time being extensively used by various manufacturers of radio equipment, these various colors indicating the particular wires which are more specifi cally identified by other printed descriptive matter shown on the respective tags. The color scheme of identification calls for an understanding of the scheme by the user and is helpful when understood and borne in mind at all times; but since the present tags are likely to be used in the cellar of the residence or at some other place distant from the instrument, and frequently where the light is poor, and where dust obliterates the colors materially, a. more certain and easy method of identification is desired, and the present form of tag fulfills those requirements. The use on the tags of the names of these various colors assists the user in installing the instrument, educates him as to the color scheme employed at the instrument, and provides a check against the misapplication of the to the wire or of the wire to a particular part of the equipment.

Between the two holes 23 and 241: I provide a darkened strip or area 2? and between the hole and the end of each tag I provide a similar darkened strip or area 28. The holes 23, 24; and 25 being in alignment and the dark strip-like areas 27 and 9.8 also being in the direction of the align ment of the holes, these darkened areas indicate to the user how the wire shall be threaded through the holes, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and a, and therefore constitute guides for threading or applying the tag to the wire.

By providing a pair of holes as and 24c in one end portion of the tag, with a single hole (found to be sufficient) at the other end portion, the tag becomes firmly locked on the wire. The tag bends somewhat as does the wire, where the wire is of the flexible type, adjacent to the holes in the-tag, as well shown in Fig. l while the main and more central portion of the tag lies substantially flat and exposes the desired identifying data in a very satisfactory way.

The tags as used by me in radio work are two inches long and half an inch in width' As illustrated, they lie lengthwise with the wire and therefore occupy but little space, are free from the possibility of entanglement or interference under all conditions, and are especially clear of each other when oil-set from each other on adjacent wires where various of the wires come close together at a single place where the tags are applied.

In. the drawings the perforations in the tag are shown as being of substantially the same diameter as the wire with which it is to be used, and in this connection the insulation on the wire determines, of course, the diameter that these perforations should have, and in my practice the diameter of the perforations is only slightly greater than that of the insulat-ii'm-covered wire. The fibrelike material employed by me is springy to a considerable extent and when the wire is threaded through the perforations this springiness causes the tag to grip the wire so that the tag is held on the wire quite strongly. This is a feature of importance since some times these wires are handled considerably and one wire may be pulled out of the mass for examination of the tag, and itis advantageous to have the tag remain in its desired position throughout all such handling.

The card shown in Fig. l is an article of manufacture having commercial value as a unit to be purchased by those desiring the benefit of the tags. In some instances it is made a part of the equipment going out to the purchaser with the instrument.

I conten'iplate as being included in these improvements such variations, modifications or departures fron'i what is herein speciiially iliusr Med and described as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An identifying tag for relatively long and slender articles of the kind specified comprising a piece of relatively long and narrow, thin and flexible sheet material having a plurality of perforations therein substantially aligned in the longitudinal direction of the tag through which the article to be identified may be threaced so as to lie to a substantially large extent along the rear surface of the tag, there being a pair of such perforations in one end portion of the tag and another such perforation near the other end portion thereof, the tag having identifying data on its front surface.

an identifying tag for relatively long and slender articles of the kind specified comprising a piece of relatively long and narrow, thin and flexible sheet material having a plurality-of perforations therein substantially aligned in the longitudinal direction of the tag and through which the article to be identified may be threaded so as to lie to a substantially large extent along the rear surface of the tag, there being a pair of such perforations in one end portion of the tag and another such perforation near the other end portion thereof, the tag having identifying data on its front surface, the tag having guide markings on the face surnce thereof between said pair of perforations and other guide markings extending from said other perforation toward said other end of the tag.

HOlVARD B. JONES. 

